The author argues that globalization is having a profoundeffect on education in several ways. Globalization putsmost governments under financial pressure to reduce thegrowth of public spending in education and to find othersources of funding for the expected expansion of theireducation systems. Because of the shifts of economicproduction to knowledge-intensive products and processes,the payoff to higher education is rising worldwide;globalization pushes governments to expand their highereducation and, correspondingly, to increase the number ofsecondary-school graduates ready to attend post-secondary education. Further, in countries that werepreviously resistant to providing equal access to educationfor young women, the need for more highly educated low-cost labour tends to expand women’s educationalopportunities. These labour market pressures conflictwith reforms that attempt to reduce public spending oneducation. Globalization places increased emphasison the mathematics and science curriculum,standards, testing, and on meeting standards bychanging the way education is delivered. Finally,globalized information networks meanstransformation of world culture. Butglobalization also means that many groups feelmarginalized by the market values of this newculture. This booklet suggests that thisconstitutes a new kind of struggle over themeaning and value of knowledge.